Most of us would like to drive our Panteras more than we do but sometimes the weather does not cooperate even in the beautiful southeast. Because our Panteras sometimes spend weeks without being driven the battery can be slowly damaged by the normal 1 1/2 percent per day loss of capacity that batteries lose when the car is not used. The slow discharge of the battery can create lead plate sulphation that could cause the battery to have permanent loss of capacity and shorten the life of the battery.
VDC Electronics makes the Surecare battery maintainer that keeps an unused battery fully charged and prevents lead plate sulphation. Stop by the Surecare website for more information on battery care. Cannot be used on sealed gel cell type batteries.
View of the Surecare battery maintainer
Close-up of the Surecare unit.
The Surecare unit comes with alligator clips to connect directly to the battery but on a Pantera that requires the front hood to be open. I replaced the alligator clips with a cigarette lighter connecter so it could be plugged into the Pantera console cigarette lighter socket.
The view on the left is the Pantera cigarette lighter socket with the special plastic insert I use rather than the normal lighter. The view on the right shows the Surecare unit connected.
The cord on the Surecare unit is thin and can be closed in the lower part of the door jam and an extension cord used for power.